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Now that my trilogy is complete and published I’ve been looking into the options I have available for Silent Sea Chronicles. My plans are to release a box set in October and to begin the production of the first audio book.

I ran a recent poll regarding the cover options available for the box set, thanks to those who voted and commented. I have now made my decision and look forward to revealing the cover to you very soon.

I have also begun the audition process for book 1 The Lost Sentinel through ACX, though I would like the chosen narrator to produce the whole Silent Sea Chronicles trilogy.

I have two issues to decide upon before work can start.

Issue number one – Gender of narrator. The lead character is a young woman, but there are also two male main characters as well as numerous important male and female characters ranging from the very young to the old. On balance I feel a female narrator would be more suited to this but I’m asking for auditions from both and will see how that goes.

Issue number two – Age of the narrator. As this is more a YA trilogy, should I be looking for a younger voice actor? It’s not something I’ve considered before when I’ve listened to audiobooks so should I be worrying about it now? I haven’t listened to YA fantasy in audio so I’ve been listening to samples and am still researching what other authors have opted for.

Maybe you would like to have your say on your ideal narrator. If so please vote in the poll or comment in the post. I’m especially looking for comments from those who have read the series to see who they imagine would put voice Tei, Brogan, Farrell, Callisa etc. Even if you haven’t read the books, please vote. I appreciate all feedback.

If you are a narrator and interested in auditioning, please follow this link to ACX for more information.

Here’s a quick reminder of The Lost Sentinel – The magical island of Kalaya is dying along with its Sentinel. With the Kalayan people turning their back on magic, can Tei help the exiles find their new Sentinel before it’s too late?

Finally, I’m looking to run a short promo when the box set is available, so if any bloggers are interested in running a feature on release day please let me know. I will blog about that again when I have a release date but it’s never too early to start planning!

I’m interested to hear how using ACX worked for you. I’m considering it for one of my shorter works as a test run and I have similar issues. Congrats on finishing the trilogy! I hope you have a suitably indulgent reward planned.

Well we are going to Prague soon, but that is more to celebrate the czech publication of Visions of Zarua. And we just got a puppy, though she has rather drained my ability to write anything at the moment!
I’ve enjoyed using ACX for Vision’s audiobook. I’ll be sure to write a post about it soon.

I will definitely support you any way I can! I’d love for you to write a post about creating audiobooks with ACX and your experience. I’m thinking of working on audiobooks of my book, but I’m in the research stage right now.

I just finished producing two projects on ACX and was browsing, I did see your title there:)
From a prospective narrators POV who would be sharing in the promotion of your audiobook, your cover art was one of the things that made your title stand out for me. Professional, decluttered and unique. The about blerb was succinct and you provided enough character guidance for an auditioner to send you a solid sample. Also, your audition script was interesting but don’t be surprised if some auditions sent to you are just a couple of sections from the whole (about 2-3 mins). We are usually recording batches of them (4-6) at one time while still completing our current projects, casting a wide net:)
The funny bit was I then signed into wordpress and searched ‘narrator’ hoping for posts by other narrators and your post was towards the top of the list. I saw the cover for you book bundle, which had the cover of a title I had seen, and I was all “Waaaaait a second, I just saw that!”.

Thanks Rachel. I really appreciate the feedback. It’s great to know I’m on the right track with my details on ACX though maybe I’ll look at my sample and choose a shorter section.
Good luck with all your projects.

Your selection length is good. We will pick selections from it that highlight our skills. With the auditions turned in, the point is to get a quick feel for the narrators voice, tone, cadence, is their audio quality clear? That sort of thing. Send messages back to the producers whose samples you liked, if there are any unique things you are looking for, accents, intro/outro music, a sound theater type recording ect., this is where you find out if they are capable of producing it. Finding out here saves everyone time. In the next step, Make An Offer, you will lay out your terms and request the First 15 minutes.

And HERE is where you go more in depth into what you are looking for exactly and get solid evidence of the producers technical and performance skill. You can only send out 1 offer at a time so make a sort list and start with your top pick. Your First 15 can be ANY collection of selections from your manuscript. Any pivotal moments, unique tones, special accents, and personally I like a list of names and places spelled phonetically either here or right after the Offer is accepted. After you approve of the pronunciations the producer can have a saved clip to check it through out the recording. Be kinda picky here because during the First 15 is where you decide if the producer is right for your audiobook. If you don’t like all of what the producer sends back the send them a message requesting changes. If you still don’t like it or if it doesn’t resonate with your reading audience(if you post clips on a poll) or just didn’t think that producer was the right fit after hearing the First 15, then it is OK here to let the producer know that they arn’t the right fit. After an Offer is accepted by both parties a contract is made and it has stipulations for canceling a project. This is NOT the time to decide the the producer is just not the right fit.

Sorry about the 2 long comments:) I think it is important to see a project from both sides and I am, also, interested in seeing more posts from you and other authors who are going through or have gone through the ACX/audiobook creation process.

I agree, it’s really good to see things from the narrators side and see what is acceptable practice when selecting one.
I must admit when I accepted Guy Barnes for my first audio book I didn’t think of any of the things you mentioned. Luckily it worked out perfect, but I will try to be more prepared this time and your tips will really help.

I’m not the best perso to ask this question as I hardly listen to audiobooks these days but I don’t think the age or gender will matter that much, it’s how they soulnd narrating, and how they bring about the characters emotions in speech that matters most. I wouldn’t want a voice too old in the sense that it would sound a bit croaky (if you know what I mean) but I don’t think it matters that much. Good luck with the audio book creation for the trilogy 🙂
By the way, when you create an audio book via that ACX platform, do you create it first, get the narrator’s recording, and upload it or is it all done within a website/program, like the narrator has to do it online? I have no idea how audio boks are done as you can guess, lol